Prevalencia y periodicidad del virus sincitial respiratorio en Colombia

Respiratory syncytial virus is one of the main agents responsible for hospitalizations in children under 5 years of age worldwide and is responsible for significant mortality in developing countries. Recent studies on antiviral immunity have created an atmosphere of optismism about the possibility of achieving a safe and effective antiviral vaccine in the near future. In this context, during the course of the Seminar/Workshop: “Intersectoral integration in health research” organized by CIDEIM, one of the objectives was to identify research needs to facilitate the introduction of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in Colombia and particularly to estimate the disease burden by this agent in the country. In this context, the present work revised the information reported by epidemiologial and clinical studies on respiratory syncytial virus conducted in the country within the past 40 years to describe the disease prevalence and the temporal distribution of this respiratory pathogen in different cities of Colombia. Although in several cities there is a peak in the presentation of the virus between March and April, especially in Bogotá, the city with the greatest number of studies, this does not seem to be the case in other cities, for example, Cali. Despite the fact that there is heterogeneity in the prevalence of infection by respiratory sincitial virus (range: 7% - 41% ) depending on the type of study, for the last 40 years the virus has been the main agent responsible for lower respiratory tract infections in children under 5 years in Colombia. © 2017. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. Ex. Fis. Nat.